I am a Labour voter, a Labour supporter and I do not regret my vote.

[CurlewKate]

However, I think that Starmer has been incredibly stupid and/or very badly advised over this expenses issue. He has done nothing wrong, but his behaviour is not what he led us to believe he would do, and I am incredibly exasperated and disappointed.

In my opinion, he should admit that he made a massive misjudgement, and agree to take no more freebies from now on.

Apart from anything else anything which allows people to say "They are all as bad as each other" (they aren't) is a distraction from the real issues the country faces. He should be laser focussed on repairing the damage caused by 14 years of Tory misrule. Not scrambling around dealing with peripheral stuff.
Starmer-say sorry. Don't do it again. And get back to work.

In what way is Angela Rayner unqualified according to you?

@Rockalittle78 What qualifications do you expect an MP to have? Apart from Oxbridge PPE of course.....

She left school at 16 with no qualifications.

And to think she would conceivably be designated acting PM if Starmer were unable to act.

It makes ones blood run cold.

Obviously I have a subscription as I’ve managed to c+p extracts of the article. That’s no excuse.

It makes me very happy to live in a country where a highly intelligent woman with the worst possible start in life can rise to the highest echelons of government. It warms my heart.

And mine

I don’t care that Angela Rayner has no qualifications. After all, David Lammy has an impressive academic CV and is widely considered to be a moron.

Whether Ange will be any use in government we don’t yet know. She certainly seems to have been a bit sidelined so far.

Sidelined, how?

According to some press she will be PM by Tuesday (or was that this Tuesday gone?)

@BIossomtoes
@DuncinToffee

Me too

How is she being sidelined? She’s in charge of housing and planning - one of the key policy areas.

That would be mildly amusing if it wasnt quite so
tragic.

Imagine Rayner going up against any number
of world leaders - she would be eaten alive.

Ghastly woman, and not too bright.

She’s very bright as you’d know if you’d ever seen or heard an interview with her. I particularly recommend the one she did with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart. I’d back her in any situation, she’s quicker on her feet than most politicians.

It isn't Angela Rayner who is ghastly or not too bright

Not difficult to be quicker than Starmer - he’s a sharp as a beachball.

Rayners face and voice would have been useful to scare my DC when they were younger, admittedly.

Otherwise I shall pass, thanks.

Brilliant re Lammy - fair point.

Ah yes, you guys are right, our Ange IS bright -
particularly in mathematics…

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/sSTGH2YHs34

My apologies.

Here’s one report.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/no-national-security-council-seat-for-sidelined-angela-rayner-9l025kr39

Not difficult to be quicker than Starmer - he’s a sharp as a beachball

Most successful DPP ever according to Dominic Grieve, the Tory Attorney General and Theresa May, the Home Secretary at the time.

Some victims may disagree with you.

A letter written by Emily Thornberry in 2012 when she was the shadow attorney general. Thornberry, today part of Starmer’s shadow cabinet, wrote to Starmer accusing the then DPP of “backsliding” on rape prosecutions.

I didn’t say it. The former Attorney General and Home Secretary did. And your assertion is pointless without a link - again.

I’m happy to believe Starmer was a good barrister and able DPP. So I find it all the more surprising that he’s such a poor speaker and is so prickly and petulant.

I suspect his manner is a product of his overweening ambition mixed with understandable anxiety that he might fuck up the big one.

Oh I’ve found it. She was criticising the Tory government ten years after Starmer resigned as DPP. No wonder there was no link.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/labour-emily-thornberry-keir-starmer-government-cps-b1097476.html

Hang on.

No, you didn’t say it, but you relied on it to support your argument.

By proxy then.

Its on Labours official website.

He’s likely out of his depth

His old job fine, this one a different ball game

In an interview with BBC's Newscast to mark 100 days in office, he said so far his new job had been “much tougher than anything I've done before, but much better”.

He doesn’t have the political nous, the antenna, and he’s brittle. I could go on.